MAY 6, 2006

The meeting at the Nurburgring

There was a meeting on Saturday morning involving BMW's Burkhard Goeschel, McLaren's Ron Dennis, Renault's Alain Dassas and Bernie Ecclestone, who talked about possible solutions to the current negotiations. According to GPMA sources this did not result in any change of position.

The current situation is that Renault wants to get out of its commitment to the other manufacturers not to do a deal with the Formula One group until they all agree that the deal is what they want. Our sources say that the other manufacturers are still holding out for 60% but that Renault want to settle for a short-term deal which would get 50% of the revenues to the teams with immediate effect and would then offer the chance to negotiate more to decide what happens in 2008 and beyond.

This seems like a sensible solution for all concerned.

Our original source said that an agreement in principle had been found but it was agreed to keep the news secret because of the implications involved. It is fair to say that the one person who was missing from the meeting was Donald McKenzie, the CVC executive who is the man who must decide on the venture capitalist company's position. Until he gives his go-ahead a deal is not done and so it could be that both sources are (broadly) telling the truth.

One way or the other, the long-term problem has not been solved but an interim solution could be useful to take the pressure off and allow more time for the final deal to be put together.